City council receives over £1m from government over Leamington and Horatia Houses following Grenfell tragedy

PORTSMOUTH City Council has successfully managed to claw back over £1m from the government over the cost of removing cladding at Leamington and Horatia Houses in Somerstown.

The authority is set for a boost of £1.3m from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) after its application following the Grenfell tragedy.

It means the government will fund the removal of cladding on both houses.

Homes England will now link-up with the council to finalise the funding agreement before transferring the grant.

Proposals for the future of the sites were approved in February with different options put forward on what to do with the sites. One idea was to remove the blocks and redevelop the site to create more affordable and social housing.

Now the authority will work with residents to shape the future of the area.

The council’s cabinet member for housing, councillor Darren Sanders said: ‘I am delighted that the government has awarded us this money. This is a really helpful contribution to the costs of removing the cladding and we will continue to press it to help us with all the costs that we have incurred thus far.

‘I now hope the government will support us with funding to help secure the future of these sites. Now the council has decided that refurbishing the blocks costs too much and selling them helps only developers, we want to work with local people to provide some of the much-needed homes Portsmouth people can afford.’